In a filing dated Saturday, Vale said the group had reached the minimum percentage required to request adopting the multiple voting process.

This meant board members could be elected independently and not in a single vote approving all names proposed by controlling shareholders, Reuters reported.

Broker Vic DTVM and fund Geracao Futuro Lpar have proposed Patricia Bentes as an independent member, challenging the list of 13 candidates, the wire service said.

It said Vale had last month proposed adding an independent member to its 12-member board, two months after the fatal Brumadinho tailings dam collapse that killed about 300 people.

In the statement, Vale said the election of the members of the board, in extraordinary and ordinary general meetings set for April 30, might be done using the proposed process.